Carjacking Suspect Returns To Floyd County To Face Charges

A Bartow County man accused of a March 2022 carjacking spree in Floyd County and murder in Bartow has been brought back from prison to face armed robbery and aggravated assault charges.

On March 18, 2022, around 5:55 a.m., 33-year-old Alex Bernard Joyner took a 2006 Blue Chrysler Pacifica at gunpoint from a woman on the 300 block of New Heritage Road, an arrest warrant states.

According to the warrant:

The woman attempted to close her car door but police say Joyner put a pistol to her face and demanded that she give him the keys to the car.

He drove away but crashed the Pacifica a few miles away in a sharp curve near Calhoun Highway and then walked to a nearby gas station. At around 6:20 a.m. he approached a gas station attendant at the Citgo at 7130 Calhoun Highway, pointed a gun at her and told her to give him her car keys.

“Give me your keys and nothing will happen to you,” he told the teller, according to the warrant.

Joyner then fled to Gordon County. Around 6:30 a.m. Gordon County Sheriff’s Office deputies received a lookout call for the stolen car. A deputy attempted to stop the car, but Joyner sped away on State Route 53 Spur.

The deputy then pursued the car to the area of Court Street and River Street where Joyner, after striking another vehicle, lost control and crashed near the Calhoun Post Office.

The deputy, who was joined by Calhoun Police Department officers, arrested Joyner without further incident. Deputies recovered the firearm believed to have been used the crimes.

In Floyd County, he has been indicted on felony armed robbery, aggravated assault, hijacking, theft and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon among other charges.

Joyner is also facing a Bartow County murder charge — among others — for the death of his former girlfriend 27-year-old Malayca Jones. Jones was found dead at the Morgan Square Apartments on Felton Road in Cartersville on March 19, 2022.

According to Cartersville Police Department records obtained through the Open Records Act, a caller contacted police that Saturday afternoon she’d found Jones’ body in the residence.

Police found her body covered in blood with a pair of scissors on her back. Glass shards and debris were scattered through the room. The complainant told police she’d heard a fight on Thursday, March 17 and had not seen Jones or Joyner since.

According to Georgia Department of Corrections records, Joyner was previously convicted of aggravated assault and theft charges in Bartow County in 2008 and was serving out the remainder of that sentence before being transferred to the Floyd County Jail on Tuesday to face the current charges.

He was indicted in Floyd County in May and remained in jail on holds from both Bartow and Gordon counties.